


Painted Red

by SalParadiseLost



Series: Into the Air [3]
Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Wings, Birbs, Bruce Wayne is a Good Parent, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Explosions, Gen, Hurt Jason Todd, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Jason Todd Needs A Hug, Jason saying he isn't part of the family..., Pack Dynamics, Pack Feels, Panic Attacks, Protective Jason Todd, Wing Pets, Wingfic, preening, while acting like he's part of the family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-19
Updated: 2021-03-19
Packaged: 2021-03-28 01:27:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,864
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30131907
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SalParadiseLost/pseuds/SalParadiseLost
Summary: Jason Todd wasn't someone to be trusted. He was too violent, too uncontrollable and too crimson. He didn't even trust himself.So why was Bruce so insistent that he could be trusted to be part of a flock again.---SFW Omegaverse Week Prompt: Flock Leader
Relationships: Dick Grayson & Jason Todd, Jason Todd & Bruce Wayne, Tim Drake & Jason Todd
Series: Into the Air [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2211846
Comments: 25
Kudos: 313
Collections: Omegaverse SFW Week 2021





	Painted Red

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry I skipped yesterday! I will get to that story but I isn't quite ready yet. I'm also skipping tomorrow too. Those stories will come! Just not quite yet...
> 
> Species:  
> Bruce Wayne: Verreaux's Eagle  
> Dick Grayson: Common Kingfisher  
> Jason Todd: Lammergeier  
> Tim Drake: Jacobin Cuckoo  
> Damian Wayne: Red-Backed Shrike and Eastern Red Bat

Jason didn’t know how he fit into the flock anymore.

When he was younger, it was easy. He was the second oldest chick, but the oldest omega, making him the flock omega by default. When Tim came along, his position was only solidified as he cared for the younger boy, practically adopting the chick as his own.

He didn’t even know that he could have such a protective instinct until Tim crashed into his life.

Or rather, until Jason crashed into his and found an abandoned omega fledging with no one to care for him.

But all that had been washed away by a bubbling green pit and the reddening of his feathers that he just couldn’t stop.

He couldn’t forget the first time he realised what was happening. When he really saw his feathers get tinted red and he had desperately begun pulling them out hoping to find the familiar cream-coloured coverts hiding underneath them.

But every single feather he pulled just came back red again.

And with every mission that Talia sent him on, every instance when she had taken his half-mad fury and set him on another target like he was a rabid dog, his feathers became a shade redder.

He had almost expected Bruce to throw him away at the sight of them. Vultures always had the reputation of a group of species not to be trusted, and lammergeiers were the worst of them. Other vultures might steal from your pocket or lie to your face, but it was only a lammergeier that would put a knife in your back.

Bruce had never seen him like that, but Jason’s feathers had never turned red. In his worst nightmares, he had feared that his father figure would see the crimson and realise the blood-soaked creature he’d become. He feared that Bruce would think that he should have stayed dead and toss him back into the pit he had barely escaped from.

He feared… he feared things worse than death.

So when he came back, after his ill-fated attempt on Tim’s life, he hadn’t expected to be let back into the flock, let alone welcomed into it.

He certainly hadn’t expected to be trusted…

“Hood,” Bruce’s voice crackled through the comm in Jason’s ear. “You have eyes on the East side?”

Jason’s eyes narrowed as he watched the gang members unload what they thought were explosives off of a truck and into a warehouse.

Of course, this had to be a mission with explosives and warehouses. Throw a crowbar into the mix and you’d have all of Jason’s favourite things.

“Yeah, B. About 8 to 10 members, but each is packing heat. Two at each doorway. The leader seems to be finalising negotiations. No deviations from the intel the snitch gave us earlier.”

Bruce grunted, and Jason didn’t need to see his face to know that the alpha was displeased by this turn of events. They knew about this explosives drop-off from intel they had gotten from a snitch. Bruce hated relying on snitches, and Jason didn’t blame him.

Snitches weren’t exactly known to be the most reliable sources of information. All it took was one wrong address, one wrong time, or one wrong name and the whole shebang could end up with one of them being shot.

Most of the time, Bruce fell back and double-checked intel where he could, but they had only gotten this tip a couple of hours ago and the job was being done tonight. So instead, he called Jason in (well, more like sent Dick to retrieve him) and was using safety in numbers.

“Nightwing, report,” Bruce’s voice came through the comm and Dick answered back.

“Nightwing here,” Dick sounded obnoxiously cheerful about the whole thing. “Confirming Hood’s observations. I’m doing the same count from my side of the building.”

If Jason squinted, he could just barely make out Dick’s bright blue feathers.

Bruce grunted and there was a pause. “Nightwing move in. I’m coming behind you.”

Jason watched the kingfisher dive off the edge of a building, his wings flashing as swooped down. He pulled up at the last second, flexible wings effortlessly performing a manoeuvre that would have had Jason biting the pavement. His wings were too big and too broad to copy Dick’s natural flexibility and nimbleness in the air.

He watched his brother sneak into the warehouse, disappearing into the shadows like a ghost.

Hood stay with Robin.” And before Jason could protest, the comms were flickering off, leaving him with babysitting duty. Again.

Jason knew what Bruce was doing. The eagle thought he was being so sneaky by just happening to pair off them off together on each mission. As if Jason wouldn’t notice that Tim and he were always magically shoved together and ended up with long periods of time on their own.

He knew the alpha was trying to appeal to the omega within Jason. He knew his flock leader was trying to use the hatchling as a way to get him to come back. He knew that the eagle was literally trying to use his instincts against him.

Which is why he hated how well it was working.

“Jason,” a young voice came at his side and he felt the younger bird get right up under his wing to peer over the edge at the warehouse. The movement was too familiar for strangers, and Jason glanced down to the boy in surprise.

Tim, with his always stellar survival instincts, didn’t seem to have any reservations about huddling next to the lammergeier that had tried to kill him just over a month ago.

“Something’s coming from the other alley.”

Jason followed his gaze, and sure enough, a van was coming from the other direction.

“Shit,” he cursed under his breath as the van parked and six more thugs began to load out.

“Hood to Nightwing. We have six more uglies coming in hot.”

There was only deafening silence coming in from the comm and Jason growled.

“Batman? Nightwing? Come in.” Nothing.

Jason turned to Tim and the hatchling shook his head. Nothing coming from his end either.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

Their snitch had set them up.

“Stay here,” Jason barked, pinning the hatchling with a glare. The cuckoo was already rising though, wings partially spread. The feathers on his left wing were only partially in, still recovering from when Jason had cut them off.

“I can help. I can still fight,” Tim insisted, his chest and his feathers puffing.

Jason raised sceptical eyebrow, eyes going to the kid’s bum wing. “Yeah. No. That’s not happening. Stay here.”

“But Jason,”

“ _Stay,”_ he put some omega growl into the words, _“here.”_

The hatchling pouted but grumpily sat down while mumbling to himself.

If Jason knew anything about Robins, he knew that they _never_ listened to directions. But hopefully, he could get the worst of whatever was down there cleaned up before Tim could sneak his way into the building.

Jason walked to the edge of the building and spread his wings. He took a second to shoot another glare at the sulking chick and then threw himself into the night.

Jason didn’t even have time to find his brother and flock leader before he was getting attacked by some goon with a metal pipe.

“What the hell,” he yelped as the guy swung at him. He ducked to the side and twisted his wings out of the way to avoid a blow. “Where did you come from?”

The guy was obviously untrained, and Jason took him down in a couple of seconds.

“Where’s Nightwing and the Bat?” he questioned, and the guy grunted. He bared his teeth at him, and the goon spat at his feet. Jason unholstered a gun (rubber bullets but the other guy didn’t need to know) and levelled it to the guy’s head.

“I’m only going to ask one more time. Where’re the other vigilantes?”

The guy looked terrified, but, for a split second, a smirk bounced in his grimace. Jason had a moment to narrow his eyes before another guy was swinging a pipe at his head.

He lunged to the side to avoid the hit, but the guy managed to clip Jason’s temple, sending his world swirling. He crumpled as pain exploded into his head, digging its teeth right into his brain. The floor tilted, his limbs disobeyed him, and above his head, someone laughed.

_Laughter. Laughter as his bones broke and shattered beneath his skin._

“Guess you’re not such a tough bird, are you?”

Fury flashed through Jason, and he came up swinging. Hard. He smashed his fist against the guy’s skull, and the guy went down into a heap. He was out cold when Jason poked him with the tip of his shoe.

“Doesn’t feel too good flipped around does it?” Jason snarled, spitting on the guy once for good measure. Blood dribbled from his brow into his eye, and he swiped at it. He knew that he half smeared it across his face, and he could feel it gruesomely sticking in his hair.

Uncomfortable, but good for intimidation.

He turned around and tried to ignore the way that the floor seemed to churn under him

The man he had been interrogating earlier was up and snarling at Jason. The lammergeier smiled and prepared for a fight.

His enemy was a raptor, some kind of hawk, with sharp, cruel wings that could pack a punch.

Jason should know, he’d gotten a walloped by wings more times than he could count.

His head screamed in protest as they began circling each other, both of them waiting for the other to make a move.

Jason needed to get out of here quickly. The world was swirling together more and more and he could feel that his own balance was off.

“Hood,” someone shouted. It was Dick, maybe Tim? The voices were running together in his head. “We need to get out of here!”

Didn’t they see he was busy?

The raptor grunted as Jason cracked his knuckles against the man’s side, feeling the satisfying crunch of bone. The man stumbled back, face twisting into a grimace as he clutched the wound on his side.

Jason grinned, raising his wings, letting the crimson spread of his coverts gleam in the warehouse light. The man’s face instantly paled, terror gleaming as he took in Jason’s red, red, feathers.

“A lammergeier,” he whispered, voice trembling like Jason’s species was monster from nightmares. Maybe it was for him, lammergeiers always hunted the edges of movies and novels, villains waiting in the wings. Vultures could never be trusted, and lammergeiers, well, they were the worst of them.

“That’s right,” Jason smiled, the grin as cruel as the red in his feathers. He took a step forward and the man stumbled back. His fingers were visibly trembling.

“Stay back, you fucking vulture,” he spat, and Jason laughed.

“I’m afraid I can’t do that. Because you see, I’ve been wanting to become a shade redder.”

There was terror in every line of the other man’s body, and he scrambled back, eyes rolling in his head to find some kind of way to escape. Jason’s wings blocked his exits, leaving him trapped.

Jason tensed his muscles, preparing to launch forward to knock this guy’s lights out, and noticed too late that the man’s eyes had caught on something.

He was already moving when the man swooped to the side, grabbing onto a crowbar on the ground and raising it.

Memories crashed into his head just like the crowbar crashing against his temple.

Pain exploded on the side of his face. The red wash of blood dribbling down his skin, bleeding into his left eye. The world swam around him, running together with the memories of another warehouse, another crowbar coated in his blood.

Laughter. The cruellest sound he had ever heard as his own screams filled the air.

The feel of blood, tacky on his wings, getting between his feathers and staining all of them.

The crush of his bones as metal rained down.

Again and again and again.

“Hood! Where are you! This place is about to blow!”

That was definitely Dick…

Why was Dick here? Wasn’t Dick off-world?

“Jason! Jaybird!” His voice was high and panicked. “Where are—”

There was a flash, and then the world was consumed into flame and falling metal.

“Jason! Please, Jas…”

.

.

.

“Please be alive, you have to be al…”

.

.

.

“Jaylad, where are…”

Jason groaned, the press of debris all around his body. Metal scraped against his skin. Dust coated all of his feathers. He was going to have to preen them all over again. He flared them as much as he could, and they protested the movement.

Strained, but not broken. He got lucky.

He opened his eyes, but all he could see was darkness. Smoke stung his lungs and made him cough.

Panic licked at the edges of his mind and he desperately tried to keep it down. He didn’t have time to panic.

“Jason,” his own name came at a distance. It was Dick, his voice broken and wet with a sob. He tried to answer, but his own voice burst into a cough. His lungs protested at the gritty air.

“Where are you, Jay?” Tim’s young voice came next, the panicked whine of a hatchling. The omega in him screamed to call back.

He tried, a high-pitched keen in the back of his throat. It came out weaker than he wanted it to and he doubted Tim could hear it.

He tried again, this time with an omega whine, specifically to Tim. It sounded a bit pathetic in his ears, he couldn’t remember the last time he had made that type of whine. He’d thought it had it beaten out of him.

“Jason?” Tim said, this time with raw hope. The smaller omega called back and Jason answered as loudly as he could. “He’s alive!” The boy was talking to someone else. “He answered from over here!”

“Jay!” Dick’s voice now. Closer. With the same hope. “Bruce, he’s over here.”

There was movement in the debris above him. His wings jumped on his back in anxiety as memories of the warehouse _falling, crashing, crushing him beneath it_ clawed at his mind. His breath was too fast in his lungs. He couldn’t get a breath in. He couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t—

Light and then a small, pale face blocked it out.

His hatchling.

He keened, a sound to bring the chick closer to him and Tim scrambled at the debris. “I’m here. I’m coming,” he said frantically, trying to shove his way down to get to Jason.

He looked over his shoulder. “He’s here. I need help getting to him.”

Jason’s instincts forced him to keen again, and Tim got this choke, broken look on his face as he desperately tried to force himself to Jason. The hatchling was squirming and trying to fit his wings into the hole to get to Jason before he was violently yanked back.

“Stop that, Tim,” the rumble of his flock leader’s voice calmed something frantic in Jason. “You’ll trap yourself in there too.”

“But my Omega is calling for me,” Tim whined, sounding so painfully young that Jason’s heart ached.

He keened for the chick again, and he heard Tim choke and fight against their leader’s hold.

“Let me go! He wants me to come!”

“Timmy, you gotta calm down,” Dick pleaded, “getting yourself hurt won’t help Jason.”

“He wants me to come!” Tim sounded on the edge of tears and the omega in Jason screamed at him to go to him. Desperation and panic were flickering into fury as he heard the chick begin to cry for him.

Someone was keeping his hatchling from him. Someone was holding him back. His whines turned into a growl, and a surge of pure rage flashed through his body.

He snarled and the flurry of voices immediately silenced.

“Oh shit.”

Jason clawed up, towards the hole above him and the crying hatchling beyond it. Metal clawed at his skin, drawing blood as he shoved himself into their sharp edges. He could hardly feel it though, not when his chick’s frantic calls filled his entire mind.

“No, Jason, wait you could hurt yourself,” Dick’s voice fell on deaf ears as Jason slammed himself through the pieces of fallen building, finally breaking out of the rubble around him.

He immediately locked onto the hatchling. _His_ hatchling. Who was being held down by two larger birds.

He growled, feral and dangerous and the only warning they would get to let the chick go.

The kingfisher immediately dropped the chick, hands going up and neck exposed. He warbled, a clear _not a threat_ sound, and backed away. Jason watched the action through keen eyes, making sure the bird was truly backing down and not hiding a threat among fake submission.

The beta performed the non-threatening signals perfectly though, and Jason turned his attention to the large alpha still holding the chick down.

Jason snarled, too angry for words, and spread his wings threateningly.

“Bruce, let Tim go,” the kingfisher said from the side, looking frantically between the alpha and the furious omega.

“He could hurt himself or Jason,” the alpha replied calmly back, “The rubble is unstable. It could collapse at any moment.”

“Yeah, but Omega Fury can kill you,” the beta retaliated, before turning back to the lammergeier. “Calm down, Jason,” he was forcing a purr into his voice. Only betas could purr so voluntarily, a sound meant to deescalate flock conflicts.

Jason felt the urge of it, the gentle pressure to relax and fall back. He paused, stopping his growling and blinking.

And then, Tim cried again, high and plaintive and setting every one of Jason’s nerves on fire.

He launched forward, tackling into the alpha. The man was huge, but Jason was just as big and he had the fury of a pissed-off omega behind him.

They both slammed to the ground, broken glass and metal digging into Jason’s feathers. The alpha didn’t struggle, only met his eyes evenly as Jason arched his wings up menacingly letting the crimson coverts shine.

“I’m not going to fight you, Jason,” the alpha said with a slight strain on pain in his tone. “I would never hurt you or Tim”.

He heard the words, but they seemed to roll off of him like water. The omega is him just kept screaming for him to _go, more, protect the chick, make the alpha pay,_ and he couldn’t do anything to drown it out.

He didn’t even realise he had punched the alpha until there was a wet crunch and blood was coating his knuckles. His flock leader grunted in pain, a groan escaping his throat and…

Something in Jason cracked, and his world shattered around him.

Dick was yelling at him to stop. Tim was crying, no longer calling for him, just crying. Bruce was groaning under him, but not raising a hand to fight back.

Blood fell from his hand and splattered onto the ground.

His flock leader’s blood.

Guilt rose like a tidal wave as it became plainly clear how terribly Jason fucked this up.

He had been given a second chance and he had blown it.

On what? Trying to protect a kid who wasn’t even his hatchling from an alpha who wasn’t even a threat. What kind of flock would want someone like that?

Bruce had been crazy for wanting Jason in the first place. He was a vulture ( _you can’t trust them)_ and, even worse a lammergeier ( _feathers were always destined for blood_ )

“Jason! Stop!” The kingfisher was at his side, begged him to stop. Begging for him not be the monster his feathers marked him as.

Jason flung himself away from Bruce and Dick, backing up on shaking legs. His head was still swirling, and he couldn’t find his balance, but he desperately tried to flee.

He spread his wings, ready to take off, but then there was a hatchling at his hip, holding him down.

“Jason! Don’t leave.

“No, Tim, stay back,” Jason whimpered, stepping back and tripping over a stuck-up piece of rubble. His wings instinctively spread out behind him, and all he could see on both sides was a sea of crimson.

Red.

Red meant violence.

Red meant blood on his hands that he could never wash off.

Red meant that he would be nothing more than a colour and a danger.

His knees buckled underneath him and he crumpled under his own weight. The swirling in his head became worse, flipping the floor and the ceiling. He could hardly control himself like this. Tim couldn’t be close to him.

“Stay back. Tim. I’m too dangerous.”

The cuckoo took another step forward and Jason tried to press back impossibly further. The crimson on his wings was in full view and he wanted to hide behind it.

“I’m not afraid of you, Jason,” said Tim with a small smile. “I could never be afraid of you. You’re my flock and my brother.”

Tim came closer. His wings were half-spread and the shorn left wing was jarring to see in contrast with the full right wing. It had been a few weeks, the feathers were mostly in, but there was still a noticeable difference between the two wings, a visible lop-sidedness to Tim’s wings. When Jason’s eyes landed on it, Tim jerked it close to his body and out of sight.

“I did that.”

Tim frowned. “It wasn’t you.”

Jason snorted and the sound was ugly. “We both know that it was. The emotions were all mine. The Pit just amplified what was already in me.”

“And just because it’s in you, doesn’t mean you’re evil.”

Jason’s eyes fell on his crimson feathers. Red that told a different story. Red that would never go away.

“It does mean I’m dangerous, though,” Jason muttered. He was a sharp thing now. Broken glass that used to be beautiful before he had been shattered and left on the ground. Now, he was cutting edges that sliced anyone who dared to touch him.

Even when he didn’t want to hurt, he would inevitably draw blood from anyone who attempted to pick up the pieces.

Tim would realise that too as soon as he tried.

“You are dangerous,” Tim said, and Jason flinched.

The cuckoo was getting it now. Next, he would turn around and run back to his flock. They would welcome him with open arms and keep the boy far away from the monster Jason had become.

Jason waited for the unavoidable change when Tim would stop looking at him like the brother he wasn’t anymore and start seeing him as a threat.

The younger bird only met his eyes evenly.

“But so am I. And so are Dick and Bruce and even Alfred. We’re all dangerous, but that doesn’t mean we can’t be a flock.”

Something hopeful in Jason fluttered, and he shook his head.

Because didn’t Tim get it? Didn’t he realise how big of a mistake he was making?

The cuckoo kept moving forward and Jason was pinned down in horror. Tim was in arm’s reach now and he just came closer and closer. Until suddenly, he was tucking himself into Jason’s crimson, violent wings.

The bird warbled, a sweet, comfortable sound, and he sighed into Jason’s feathers. Tim reached up, peeled off the scent blocker he was wearing, and then did the same to Jason.

He didn’t resist the smaller omega’s careful fingers, and soon the air was filled with a smooth omega scent.

Tim nestled further into Jason’s wings and began to stroke the coverts.

“You’re dangerous,” he admitted, fingers twirling around a red feather, “but you can be soft too. You can be our flock omega again.”

Without his consent, his other wing came around, curling Tim fully into him. His wings were huge, and they could easily encompass both of the birds. There was something traitorous in the action, but he didn’t fight it.

“I’m only going to hurt you, baby bird,” he whispered as he leaned his forehead into Tim’s silky hair.

It had been so long since he had this. Tim’s line of warmth against his side. Gentle, stroking fingers in his wings. The small coo of his little omega hatchling that was quickly developing into a purr.

He hadn’t thought he’d ever get this back.

If he was honest with himself, he knew that he didn’t deserve to have this back.

Tim’s little coos fully turned into a rumbling purr, thunderous and soft at the same time.

“I’m dangerous,” Jason repeated as he gently began to preen Tim’s feathers. One of his fingers caught on Tim’s alula feathers, the most delicate part of their wings. Alulas were only a tiny area of their feathers on the wrists of their wings but only reserved for family. Friends could preen friends, but only family would dare to touch the fragile alulas.

Jason remembered a time he wouldn’t have hesitated to touch Tim’s alula feathers. He’d preened them more times than he could count, smoothing the other omega’s wings into perfection. Tim’s feathers were fully black with a white tip, the same colour on both the top and bottom. Jason’s was russet brown on the topside, but the underside was soaked in crimson. It had hurt him more than he expected to see his own delicate alulas marred by blood.

Gingerly, he stroked the feathers around the alulas, intending to avoid the area altogether. Tim snorted and shoved his wing into the lammergeier’s hand, forcing Jason to touch the family feathers.

“I can’t be trusted,” he tried to say, but his fingers were already combing through the alulas.

The hatchling sighed and let all his weight rest on Jason’s chest. He was boneless, completely trusting, and tucking his chin underneath Jason’s as any chick would do to their flock omega.

Jason’s instincts roared at him to submit, to begin to care and brood over the little chick that was falling into his lap.

But the crimson…

He could never get it out of his vision.

Tim didn’t seem to care, not as he sheltered in Jason’s wings and let the angry red coverts cover him protectively. Maybe, just maybe…

He rose his arms, wrapping the hatchling in a fierce hug as he felt a familiar heartbeat beating against his chest. Why had he ever tried to make it stop?

Tim cooed into his neck as Jason sniffled. He didn’t know when the tears started to come. He kept repeating “I’m dangerous,” until the words turned into “I’m sorry”.

He stayed there for a long time before a shadow passed over him and he looked up.

Bruce was standing over him, half his face darkened with blood from when Jason punched him in the nose. His dark wings framing his body and blocked out the light.

“I’m sorry,” Jason said again, his throat aching from how many times he said the word.

Bruce shook his head, cutting off Jason’s forgiveness before he could really get rolling. “It’s fine, Jason. You thought you needed to protect Tim. I’m not going to get angry at you for that.”

“But I—”

Bruce knelt, putting a finger to Jason’s lips and silencing him. “It’s fine, Jaybird. I promise you.” His tone was warm and welcoming, and Jason just wanted to curl up in it.

The eagle hummed as he gently put his hands on Jason’s cheeks, swivelling his head to get a better look at the wound on his temple. At his other side, he felt another set of wings around him and looked to see a sea of blue.

The beta curled into his side. His brother’s careful fingers, preening through his underwing. He melted at the touch and the comforting, familiar scent of his older brother. The kingfisher purred and the vibration was heavenly against Jason’s side. Exhaustion seeped into his body, slowly weighing down on his muscles.

“You still have a concussion,” Bruce’s voice was soft over his head and someone was petting his hair. This was nice. This was very nice. His eyelids were becoming harder and harder to hold open.

“A batmobile is coming. We’re going back to the Manor to get you patched up.”

That was good.

Jason hummed and whined for his flock leader when he felt Bruce’s hand draw away. The cold on his forehead was too much to handle and he wanted that warm hand back.

Bruce rumbled and was petting him again. His huge hand helped ground the swirling in his mind.

“I’m going to go to sleep now,” Jason whispered and the purring next to him stuttered.

“Hey, Jaybird, look at me. Stay awake for me,” the kingfisher’s voice was buzzing next to him. The hatchling on his other side began babbling, quick and worried. The sounds of his flock surrounding him were comforting in his ears. The exhaustion was beginning to overtake him, settling deep in his bones.

He smiled as he let the darkness overtake him, knowing that his flock would take care of him.

**Author's Note:**

> Jason woke up later with both of his brothers sleeping on top of him and a worried Bruce brooding over him like a hen. He tries to insist he’s fine, but unfortunately his body betrays him by having a hairline fracture in his skull. 
> 
> Jason is trapped within the Manor as he heals. Every time he tries to leave, he’s immediately assaulted by two brothers who are demanding preening right now. The omega in him can’t say no.
> 
> After one month, his petitions to leave begin to become less frequent.
> 
> After two months, he accepts his fate and grumbles as he meticulously cleans his brothers’ wings each night.
> 
> \-----
> 
> Thank you all for reading! No story tomorrow, but if you also read my demon series, then you're going to get a story from that AU! 
> 
> You can visit my tumblr at [ SalParadiseLost ](https://salparadiselost.tumblr.com) where I post tumblr things and general writing musings.
> 
> Please leave a kudos and comment! Flattery gets you everywhere.


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